Man pleads guilty to gun, drug charges

BANGOR, Maine — A Verona Island man waived indictment and pleaded guilty last week in U.S. District Court to drug and gun charges.

Timothy Varnum, 25, admitted that in January 2010 he sold oxycodone, a powerful painkiller, to a cooperating witness working with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, according to court documents. He also admitted trading a gun to Charles Miles, 30, of Columbus, Ga., for drugs.

Varnum pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute OxyContin and to using, carrying or possessing a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime. He is being held without bail pending his sentencing.

Varnum was arrested on Jan. 14 at the Airport Mall in Bangor in a drug-buy set up by the MDEA. He also was observed by investigators selling oxycodone to the cooperating witness in Bucksport.

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MDEA agents arrested Miles, whom Varnum identified as his supplier, the same day in the grocery story at the same the shopping center.

Miles pleaded guilty earlier this year in federal court in Bangor. He admitted that he had been selling 20 to 50 80-milligram oxycodone pills per day in Maine beginning in mid-November 2009.

He was sentenced on Sept. 29 to a total of 12 years in federal prison — seven for drug conspiracy and an additional five years for possessing a gun.

Varnum faces up to 30 years in prison on the drug conspiracy charge and an additional five years for having the gun during the time he was selling drugs.